Deep Inside

Chapter 36

Dinner would usually be where we talk about our day. My dad was the one who initiated it when we were still kids. He would always start with some crazy story that was happening in their laboratory. I never had imagined that what he told us was real. 

They created monsters. They played gods with lives of innocent creatures and beasts, all in the name of science. It was sickening to realize that they had been the reason for all the chaos.

"Ate, remember what Queencie told you about his grandfather's blue prints?" Jim was casually talking to me across the table. We were having a Korean barbecue and Queencie was a usual guest for dinner. "I think I could modify it to fit your arm."

"No more operation on my arm. Please!" I blurted out. "I'm sick of feeling raw and wounded. Can you at least let my arm heal for a month or so?" I took a piece of meat and jabbed it inside a lettuce. I wrapped it up with pickled garlic and some cucumbers then dipped it in the korean sauce that we love so much.

My brother gave me a unsure smile. He was looking at Queencie sitting next to me. It was as if there were talking to each other with their facial expressions. It made me roll my eyes.

"Well, Jim was testing out some of the prototypes yesterday which almost blew up my lab, he actually fixed one that could potentially help with weight bearing for your broken arm." She was casually munching on a lettuce and a slice of cooked bacon.

I gave the two a suspicious look. I knew they were up to something. Jim had his background in robotics since his kindergarten days, so it was no a shock when he became Queencie's side kick. But right that moment, I considered the two a bunch of evil scientists looking for a lab rat they needed to experiment on.

I sighed imagining a big red sign with a written 'Lab Rat' in neon lights blinking on top of my head. I knew they were targeting me. They wanted to experiment on me.

I looked at my mom helplessly. She just looked at me with wide eyes then shrugged. How could she abandon me in the clutches of these two vultures.

"I swear if you amputate my left arm, I'm putting your heads on pikes." I mumbled chewing on my food, thinking on how i'd murder them in case they would accidentally cut off my left arm.

My brother's eyes twinkled with delight as I agreed with their exprimentation. "We'll invite you to the laboratory and testing facility as soon as the prototype is ready." He was grinning. 

"Great!" Exclaimed my mother who received looks of daggers from me. She just grinned and winked at me. I should have known she's in it with my brother. "Now, how's everyone doing? I saw Fran nap for the first time in a long lime this evening." She was beaming with delight to share the news. If only she knew who made that nap possible.

"That's great news Fran, no wonder you weren't so snarky." Queencie said grinning from to ear to ear.

"Not to mention you agreed with our testing. You should do the napping thing all the time. Helps your mood." Jim earned a lettuce straight on his face after saying that. He gave me a nervous smile after.

"Don't push it brat." I placed another bite in my mouth and started chewing again. "They started shipping in supplies as well?" I asked looking at the korean labeled ingredients on the table.

Queencie was the one to answer, "ye, it's weird. I thought those bats would stop all the world's production of these, but I guess they have a taste for human food."

"Well, the shelter can soon start providing for itself. We won't have to rely on these black market stuff soon." My mom satated. She was on of the agricultural advicers of the shelter on animal husbandry. Farming was one of the main goal my mother was pushing inside the shelter. So we wouldn't go hungry in the long run.

What Queencie said made me curious. Would that mean Vampires can tolerate human food aside from their preference of blood? Perhaps Xed's new world order would make humans to live with them after all.

Deep inside I wanted that to be possible. It was the hopeless romantic in me. I wanted our relationship to work, but why do I have a gut feeling that this was wrong?